Below are Matt's designer notes from 7th Voyage which will hopefully give you an idea of some of the thoughts and approaches we took in developing 7th Voyage. Matt will be lurking around the forum over the next few days and is happy to take any questions

"Utilising Graeme and Karl’s action:engine, which provides a basis to create and play tabletop miniature skirmishes for almost every genre, 7th Voyage is intended to streamline the system for games inspired by stop motion movies, fantasy and action-adventure programmes.

From the outset, we decided melee should be more important than shooting in 7th Voyage to reflect the action and swashbuckling nature of the genre, and new weapon rules such as Brutal, Parry and Thrust, and special effects such as Shield reflect this. With powerful creatures and monsters appearing in most scenes, rules such as Shield also help to increase the life expectancy of mortals, giving some models at least a chance to survive the crushing blows of a Giant or Minotaur.

In 7TV, models flee from Fearsome opponents and, if they can’t get away, are automatically removed from the game. This could be devastating in 7th Voyage with so many frightening models potentially in play. At worst it could make for one-sided games that would be over quickly, or bizarre games of Extra pinball, as models flee back and forth between Fearsome beasties. Because of this we introduced the Scared status, which lowers a models chance to hit and Morale, and prohibits their movement, at least towards Fearsome models, but doesn’t send them running or straight off the table.

Magic, both Gifts and Spells, is the greatest addition to 7th Voyage. In the case of Spells, we have tried to make them distinct from Otherworldly special effects. In general they are more powerful, but include limitations such as a difficulty value and in some cases being ‘one use only,’ as well as an element of risk with a model potentially forfeiting its remaining actions. Gifts on the other hand provide many special effects and abilities not normally accessible to most models, as well as improving existing ones. Available to any cast with Gift of the Gods that pays the ratings cost, we have tried to balance Gifts by making them unique, so that if more than one cast selects the same one, they cancel each other out.

One of the most difficult areas of the new magic rules was animating and summoning. Being able to breathe life into statues or cause skeletons to erupt from the ground is an essential part of the genre, but could easily unbalance the game by creating models from nowhere. Hopefully our solution, purchasing models and then bringing them into play via magic, solves this while still maintaining both theme and game balance.

Nothing is set in stone though, and these rules are intended to be a starting point for your own games, a means to build your own scenes and stories, and we hope you will enjoy creating, playing and telling them."

Delurking from the shadows just to add, I'm happy to try and answer any questions you may have now or once the rules have been released. I'll aim to check back on a regular basis, keep this updated if people are interested. Thanks, Matt

Thanks, psullie. Please let us know how the games go, hope you enjoy them.

With the Confused status, yes, you can try and use a special action to remove it and, if this fails, you can then still roll as normal in the End Phase to remove it like any other status. Our thinking was that this better reflected being Confused and trying to actively clear your head. As Confused in 7th Voyage limits you to one action per activation, using that one action to remove the status is quite limiting in itself. In addition, there are quite a few special effects and Gifts that can cause confusion, and we wanted to balance this by offering a choice/chance to remove it actively.

Parry works in the same way as the Dodge special effect in many respects. It can only be used once a turn, against the first successful melee attack. This is regardless of Initiative, as it is always in response to the first successful melee attack against the parrying model.

In addition, a model that could Dodge and Parry would use both against the first successful melee attack against them in a turn. If one fails, you can roll the other. However, you can't Dodge the first successful melee attack and then Parry the second, and vice versa, both can only be used against the first successful melee attack giving you two chances to avoid it.

a question on luck in the example in the book it says you have a luck pool of 4 and the three characters with the luck ability can use one luck point in a turn only , so does the luck pool replenish itself each turn or is 4points it for the game thanks in advance

Welcome Genosha! It's not really an issue. Once activated, a model can make two actions. You can decide to make Melee actions and hit with an appropriate weapon. No reason you can't have two weapons modelled on the miniature though.

@genosha Thanks for picking up 7th Voyage. As Karl said, there isn't a rule for being ambidextrous, but every model can take two actions and they can both be melee attacks. We didn't include ambidextrous as it would be difficult to balance in the game, being an automatic choice as a special effect if it allowed a model to gain more attacks. There is scope for it to be included though allowing for a second Parry attempt each turn perhaps? Or allowing you to switch between using two weapons freely, benefiting from both, so axe and sword for instance?

@cybergaz No worries, good to ask the question and it's also useful feedback for us.

Ok,when the Hero has an Axe in one and a sword in the other,can i use Parry after attcked with the axe?

Parry works in the same way as the Dodge special effect in many respects. It can only be used once a turn, against the first successful melee attack. This is regardless of Initiative, as it is always in response to the first successful melee attack against the parrying model.

Ok,when the Hero has an Axe in one and a sword in the other,can i use Parry after attcked with the axe?

No. If you use a weapon, you are then restricted to using the same weapon for the rest of the turn. If you use an Axe to gain Brutal, you can't Parry with a Sword in the same turn. You are always free to make Brawl attacks however, regardless of what weapon you're using.

This was done to strengthen the distinction between weapons, making the choice more tactical, e.g. Axes aggressive, Spears accurate against Large/Massive models, Swords defensive, two-handed weapons awkward/slow. It also prevents charging models using one-handed weapons, such as Axes, Daggers, Swords, etc for the free attack gained by charging, before then switching to using two-handed weapons for the greater damage.

If you did want your models to use two weapons like that, you could always introduce your own House Rules, an Ambidextrous special effect such as:

Ambidextrous (Physical special effect)This model may freely make melee attacks with any Axes, Daggers and Swords they are equipped with, swapping between them in a turn without restriction. If equipped with a Sword they can also attempt to Parry the first successful melee attack against them in a turn.

Such a model would have to purchase these Basic attacks as normal and the weapons that go with them.

hi played a couple of games now and a couple of questions arose :- fear if you pass a fear test do you continue to take fear tests each time you are within 6 inches of a fearsome opponent , if you have armour and a shield do you get 2 saving rolls as it states in addition hits of any str are negated on a d6 roll of 6, this reads to me like you do get 2 saving rolls,thanks

As for Fear, yes, the model needs to keep making Fear based Morale tests each time it is activated within 6" of a Fearsome opponent. However, a model that is in base contact with an Enemy model doesn't need to make a Fear based Morale test, the fact that they've plucked up the courage to fight or are now battling for their life overrides their fear. This makes special effects such as Courageous, Inspiration and Martial Training very important.

With the Armour and Shield special effects, these stack together into one save. Armour provides a save of 5 or 6 against Str 3 or less, a save of 6 against Str 4, and no save against Str 5 or more. Shield always provides a save of 6 against any Str attack. Combining the two together you get a save of 4, 5 or 6 against Str 3, a save of 5 or 6 against Str 4, and a save of 6 against Str 5 or more.